[spookydarren]

Bought a Limit 9000 SE dvd player in January for £220 with a 3 three warranty.

It gave me a load of trouble recently (I wont bore you but I didn't want another one and would not recommend them to anyone either) Anyway I went to take it back expecting them to exchange it and have to sell it second hand.

Well..... the manager let me buy another player and refunded me the difference! (they are now £150) I even got a new 3 year warranty, how's that for service? So now I've got the highly rated Toshiba 220 player and £100 towards my Iscan pro which arrives tomorrow so I dont loose out on Progressive scan.

Excellent service, never had a complaint.

[Greg]

Moved to DVD players forum.

Yes I put them in the same league as John Lewis when it comes to customer service.

[wilber]

Originally posted by alim
Yes I put them in the same league as John Lewis when it comes to customer service.

Na, they don't grovel enough to be classed with JL. I have always found them to be helpful though.

[Dimmy]

For all the complains that people make about richer sounds I have to say I don't have that many problems with them.
If something goes wrong with my equipment they always sort it out or offer a refund.

More in question are their staff's sales techniques (is anybody gullible enough to believe that GALE make the best speakers in the world?) and the fact that their stores hardly ever have anything of interest in stock.

But once you've actually bought something from them they're very helpful.

Who do make the best speakers? Bose?

[Dimmy]

Captain Chaos - the obvious answer has to be Eltax.

But we can't rule out Gale either.

What other profit fueled perverse obsession do richer sounds have?

Cambridge Audio! Oh yes, if they make speakers they're the BEST IN THE WORLD.

[hornydragon]

Dont forget the sherwood range of AV amps!!!!!!!!!!!!

[harrisuk]

Yes there service is always excellent. They changed two faulty plasma screens for me without batting an eye and gave me compensation !

Personally I dont like JL. I find them a little arogant to be honest. As they dont really price match anymore I dont see what the fuss is with them.

I find the JL price match is a bit of a myth these days. Very hit and miss days depends on branch manager etc......

[LV426]

Just because they are pretty much exclusive to RS doesn't necessarily make Eltax, Cambridge, or Sherwood stuff actually bad. They are always very competitively priced..... Unless, of course, there is any real 'worth' in snob-value.

[harrisuk]

At the end of the day you pay for what you get. But they sell some good stuff at cheap prices and I am not talking about the brands you have mentioned.

Its all down to personal experience. I know a few people myself included who have had problems from JL so not as straight foward as many people think.

One point I would make. I have a strong suscipicon they sell graded stock. I stand to be corrected but a fair amount of the stuff I buy from there is DOA and I always see loads of people returning stuff which ever branch I am in. Now it could be that its becuase they are easy on returns or more likely its down to the sheer weight of stuff they sell but its worth mentioning. But they always exchange stuff no probs. I am fussy and keep going back there so they are doing something right.

[harrisuk]

Being serious on the matter of speakers. Best speakers is a bit of a wide definition. Should be best for money or best reasonably priced ? Fit for purpose is what I say.

I Like Mission myself which I think offer a good compromise between quality and cost. Just my opinion I am sure people who know much more about them would not agree.

If you are talking money no object there is some crazy stuff available, platinum components for minimum intereference and some really really expensive mounts to stop vibration etc effecting the sound they produce.

I have seen some B & O ones that were silly money no idea how good they were though.

[gammmmo]

I've put alot of money in the direction of RS in the last 5 years or so and have generally had pretty good service but my most recent experience with them was poor. I bought a Philips DVDR880 and after about 6 weeks of light use got the famous 'No Disc' error when any DVD was loaded. I did some research on the Web and found it was a very common and recurrent problem. They wouldn't give me my money back or sell me the Panasonic E50 instead but offered to replace it within 3 days after making a few phone calls. I called every week for over a month and they could never tell me if a replacement was on their delivery due that week. I called their warehouse and there was stock there so that made things doubly annoying! I eventually complained to head-office using their in-house comments card and got a) an apology b) £20 worth of vouchers for my trouble and c) a letter from the branch manager saying I could now have a refund. I took the refund and vowed never to touch Philips products again. I'd also seriosuly think twice about buying a plasma from RS given my own experience. What a slog!

The blurb from Richer Sounds does say that they try to resolve all things first time but occasionally they make a mistake and as your experience has shown head office does at least do something about it. It is a shame they gave you a bit of a runaround.

I reckon I can guess what some of the other retailers might have done with your comment card.

[gammmmo]

I think my experience (admittedly RS have made amends) and your comment just go to show the value of going to somewhere like John Lewis or your local av shop...I like most people want products for the best price and am willing to pay a slight premium for peace of mind. Having said that JL seem to price match most stuff as well and offer inclusive warranties on things like plasmas.....

[gringottsdirect]

Fascinates me that Julian Richer sends me a biro signed postcard whenever I return his comments card.
Could be a good idea for Adrian Chiles So What Do You Do All Day, sadly postponed for the ping pong weariness that is Wimbledon .